Eighteen

by Elizabeth Cronin
(Preston)

It isn't your average everyday

When a young lady turns eighteen,
Rather, it's a far away day
A day I've not yet seen.

I cannot wait another day
Until they let me leave this place
However that's a year away;
Endures the endless chase-

To where? Adulthood:
A car, a cat.
An end to piano and church.
"Enquiring mum, one rule of thumb,
"Never ask about that."

So happy seventeenth to me,
The eenth of just not quite.
To any oldster with youth nostalgia,
You're just not doing it right.